The Friends of the Library organization hosted a pop-up book sale on Saturday, Feb. 25. 

The book sale took place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library. 

Sale attendees headed down to floor zero of the library to enter the RCU Dabble Box Makerspace, where they browsed books. The Friends of the Library bookstore was also open. 

Fiction, non-fiction, children’s and young adult books were available for purchase at the sale. Audiobooks and DVDs were also up for sale. 

The prices for the sale were $2 for adult hardcover books, $1 for adult softcover books, 50 cents for hardcover children and young adult books, 25 cents for softcover children and young adult books, $2 for audiobooks and $1 for DVDs. 

Stacy Yearous, program and development coordinator for the Friends of the Library, said the pop-up book sale was the first sale back in the library since the renovation. 

“The Friends have been doing book sales for 20-plus years,” Yearous said. “They used to be three-day events, but now that we’re back in the renovated library, we now have a bookstore.”

According to Yearous, the Friends of the Library bookstore is open whenever the library is open. 

“We’re trying to change the shopping habits of our book sale shoppers to come and visit our bookstore every time they come to visit the library,” Yearous said. 

Events at the library bring a lot of traffic to the Friends of the Library bookstore, according to Yearous. 

“The community loves our book sales,” Yearous said. “I would say by 10 after 9:00 a.m. this room was full and the bookstore was full.”

Layla Fisher, a secretary on the Friends of the Library board, said the pop-up book sale helped raise awareness about the new Friends of the Library bookstore. 

“I think a lot of people have been gravitating toward the bookstore, which has been good,” Fisher said. “I think getting more people aware that the store is open and available anytime the library is open is important.”

Betty Conaway, a volunteer at the book sale, said the goals of the sale were to get books out into the community, to get people reading and to inform people about the Friends of the Library bookstore. 

“We have all kinds of books for young and old and the prices are very reasonable,” Conaway said. 

Conaway said the Friends of the Library offers a multitude of volunteer opportunities, for anything that speaks to people’s interests and differing personalities. 

“There are all kinds of different things that you can do,” Conaway said. “If you’re a person that would like to keep a shelf nice orderly, there’s that and if you’re more of a person that likes to chit chat with others, there’s the bookstore.”

Conaway said volunteering for the Friends of the Library is a great opportunity for students and community members. 

For more information about upcoming local events at the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library, check out the events calendar. 

O’Brien can be reached at [email protected].